KILLING JOKE — Night Time (review)

Album · 1985 · Non-Metal

4.5/5 · 2012-08-12
RuneWalsh2112

"Night Time" was when Killing Joke made the transition from their raw post-punk sound of the first four albums and entered the domain of new wave! One might assume that this move was made strictly on commercial basis, since the punk scene was almost completely crushed by 1985 while the new wave era was just entering its more mature state. Still, just as I mentioned in the review of the band's debut album, Killing Joke have rarely adopted foreign influences to their sound without being completely certain that they would be put to good use.

The album's opening title track is easily one of my top 5 favorite Killing Joke compositions. It features a steady beat perfectly complemented by the bass and guitar sounds, which makes it seem like a not so distant relative of the brilliant David Bowie track "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)". The first 10 seconds of "Darkness Before Dawn" always reminds me of the Sparks track "Your Call's Very Important To Us. Please Hold." (from Lil' Beethoven) even though the rest of the composition is anything but a Sparks show! The track is very dark, slightly gothic while still keeping the rhythm surprisingly energetic all throughout its five minutes running time.

I should probably mention that this album was one of the band's biggest hits and its popularity can pretty much be summed up by the song "Love Like Blood". This is as new wave as Killing Joke would get on this record and considering the overall high quality of all these eight compositions, it's only natural that this slightly softer track would appeal to the general audience at the time. I'm not really a huge fan of "Love Like Blood" but I can definitely see the appeal. "Kings And Queens" and especially "Tabazan" is where we once again get back to the heavy post-punk sound with the latter being very close to the industrial metal label that Killing Joke would be labeled under throughout the '90s and on.

"Multitudes" and "Europe" continue the new wave sound of "Love Like Blood" but with more energy added to the mix. Even though I appreciate the effort, these two tracks end up not feeling as memorable as the rest of the material on "Night Time". "Eighties" ends the album on another upbeat note and it's pretty difficult for me to listen to this track without feeling like Killing Joke got a raw deal when Nirvana's "Come As You Are" became a huge hit, while this little gem remained a forgotten piece of '80s memorabilia. That's all I'm gonna say about this whole controversy.

"Night Time" was my introduction to Killing Joke and I honestly could not have asked for a better start to this highly rewarding relationship! Unfortunately I cannot give this record the 5/5 rating due to the fact that 'the band' would only get better in the next few years, but more on that in due time!

***** star songs: Night Time (4:56) Darkness Before Dawn (5:21) Kings and Queens (4:38) Tabazan (4:34)

**** star songs: Love Like Blood (6:49) Multitudes (4:57) Europe (4:34) Eighties (3:59)